Drawing on original research that explores the experiences of a diverse range of individuals, creative disciplines, and institutions, this book analyses what technicians teach, how they teach it, and the values and philosophies underpinning their approaches.
Taking the creative arts as a case study, this book provides a unique and detailed account of how technical staff teach and support learning and provides a comprehensive lens for understanding the varied dimensions of technician-led teaching. It offers broad insights applicable to all disciplines involving hands-on learning, technical skill development, realisation of ideas, and experiential pedagogies. Each chapter is supported by illustrative quotes, case studies, and reflections on how stakeholders across higher education (HE) can benefit from a deeper understanding of how technicians teach and support learning.
Providing actionable guidance for HE leaders and policymakers, alongside technicians seeking personal development within their roles, this book advances international discourse on technicians as educators, contributes to the work of the Technician Commitment, and provides language, evidence, and practical insight for technicians, academics, educational developers, and leaders who want to recognise, develop, and reward technical teaching in the creative arts and beyond.
Table of Contents:
About the Author
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Dr Kelly Vere MBE
Preface
1. An Introduction to Technical Pedagogies
2. The Contemporary Context
3. Theoretical Perspectives
4. Exploring Technical Pedagogies
5. Demonstrators
6. Instructors
7. Consultants
8. Collaborators
9. Transformers
10. Synthesis
11. Insights and Strategy
Afterword by Professor Susan Orr
About the Author :
Tim Savage is a consultant, author, and trainer specialising in technical learning, technicians, and institutional change in HE. He is Principal Fellow of Advance HE, recognised for sustained strategic leadership and expertise in technical learning and teaching.
Review :
"The role of 'technicians' and their expertise within the higher education of artists is a famously under-appreciated and under-researched area. This book, based on many years' personal experience - as well as on a deep dive into the latest thinking about arts education - not only fills that gap, it also, in the process, dissolves the longstanding and unhelpful binary between 'technicians' and 'academics'. It says a lot of things that are usually left unsaid. Tim Savage's study is original, timely and increasingly important. Amazing - and rather shaming - that no-one has done this before..."
Professor Sir Christopher Frayling, former Rector of the Royal College of Art and Chair of Arts Council England. Currently Professor Emeritus of Cultural History, RCA; Professor Emeritus of Arts , University of Lancaster; and Fellow of Churchill College Cambridge.
“In this important and timely book, Tim Savage systematically explores the long-ignored interface between teaching, technical instruction and demonstration. For too long, creative disciplines and institutions have underestimated the contribution of the technical workforce, who have provided the backbone of student learning in the creative arts sector. Drawing on significant experience and expertise, Dr Savage provides a unique and insightful account of how technical staff teach and support learning; this excellent study provides a comprehensive lens for understanding the dimensions and impact of technician-led teaching.”
Professor Paul Gough, former Vice-chancellor Arts University Bournemouth, and RMIT University, Melbourne., Australia.
This book reflects groundbreaking work in relation to technician roles in higher education and their expansion into pedagogic activity. Despite the fact that there is an expanding literature on the blurring of boundaries in relation to teaching, learning and research, and the emergence of third space roles, technical staff have, up till now, been by and large missing from this. It is also a practical text that will be useful to those who see themselves in the various categories identified - Demonstrators, Instructors, Consultants, Collaborators and Transformers - placing them at the heart of learning spaces. This monograph is therefore both timely and welcome.
Dr Celia Whitchurch. Honorary Associate Professor. UCL Institute of Education, UK.
